Helping Elderly Parents to Listen to Their Doctor

Time and again, you might be the person that has heard their doctor either say, “Congratulations, you are a healthy human being” or you may be the less fortunate to hear something like, “the tests show that your health has been declining, did you start eating unhealthy foods again?”

After twelve years of education, we can expect that our doctors are correct and should listen to them. However, we cannot always get our elderly parents to admire their professionalism and experience, to the point of doing what they recommend. For whatever reason, some elders just do not want to listen to their doctors.

If your elderly relative appears to be neglecting the doctor’s recommendations, it is important to first understand the reason for it. A good question to ask may be either, “I noticed that you are not doing what the doctor recommended, why is that?” or “is there a reason why you are not [insert doctors recommendations here]?”

Once you have discovered the reason why they are not following the recommendations, use this to explain to them why listening to the doctor can benefit them. Or, that listening to their doctor is important to you and that it hurts you to see them in pain, when they can help to reduce it by listening to a medical professional.

Also consider telling them that other elders are listening to their doctors, while this sounds like your child’s typical excuse to leverage more TV time, it is also called the bandwagon technique and can be effective in some situations.

Remember, every elder and every situation is unique. However, people under normal circumstances should always listen to and carefully follow their doctor’s instructions to live a healthy and productive lifestyle, especially the elderly.